I read with interest and sympathy the Tea Bagger concerns over our out-of-control national debt. I am somewhat suspicious about the lack of Tea Bagger protest when President Reagan nearly tripled the national debt or, more recently, when President Bush nearly doubled it. While I don't enjoy seeing the debt limit increased by another twenty percent, I have to note the objections have finally arisen when we have a Democratic president, but not when a Republican sat in the White House.

 

Having gotten that off my chest, I agree that the federal government (and many states) has been irresponsible in its spending. I imagine I would disagree with many Tea Baggers as to what is irresponsible. I hear some tea baggers object to aiding the poor, some want to do away with Social Security and Medicare. For my part, I'd rather avoid the invasion of countries that have not attacked or threatened us. But such disagreements make up a proper public discourse. I hope we could agree that while it is not always possible to have a balanced budget, it is desirable, and, as we saw during the latter Clinton years, it is even possible.

 

While it's become popular to object to all taxation, however, I hope we can all recognize that taxes are the dues we pay for living in this great country. To avoid paying our fair share of those dues is both irresponsible and immoral. Anyone who wants to be protected from terrorist attack and muggings on the street, anyone who wants firefighters to respond in an emergency, anyone who wants to send their children to school, drive on paved highways, fly out of airports, eat reasonably safe food, etc. should be willing to share in the cost of those services. After all, the "Mohawks" who dumped tea in Boston Harbor didn't object to ALL taxes, only those they considered unfair. Objecting to unfair taxes is not only acceptable, it's a duty of citizenship. Objecting to all taxes is an insult to everything our forebears created for us and to the descendants we would like to share it with.